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As the COVID-19 crisis deepens, my fellow economists have reached deep into their bare cupboards of old ideas, and what have they found? Models that do not work: bailouts for big companies. Tax cuts for people well-off enough to owe taxes. Cash-grant schemes, a favorite of the universal-income crowd. These tactics won’t be effective. We cannot predict how bad the economic situation will get. And however bad it is, you cannot fill the hole with money alone. (James K. Galbraith, 3/19)

As the U.S. prepares for a lengthy battle against the COVID-19 pandemic, it is important that individuals who contract the virus get tested and needed care, whether or not they have insurance. Congress is poised to make testing free for all Americans, but more should be done. Millions of Americans could lose their jobs—and their health insurance—in coming weeks. Congress should create new pathways to full coverage for the uninsured and a back-up plan to finance care for infected patients who remain uninsured throughout this public health emergency. (Joe Antos and James C. Capretta, 3/19)

Louisiana, Georgia, Kentucky and Ohio have postponed their state primaries because of concerns over the transmission of the coronavirus. Connecticut, Delaware, New York, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island are scheduled for April 28 — about the time the curve we are hoping to flatten may or may not be trending in the best of directions. It will be tempting for leaders in those states and others to postpone their primaries. Instead, in this hour of crisis, state officials — understandably scrambling to secure their people — should do all they can to hold their elections as soon as possible. The legitimacy of the eventual Democratic nominee could depend on it. (Jon Meacham, 3/20)

While touring the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to discuss Covid-19 a couple weeks ago, President Donald Trump asked, "Who would have thought?" By not anticipating the catastrophe we are now living, Trump joins a pantheon of American leaders whose failures of imagination have come at great cost. (Alice Hill, 3/19)

So Donald Trump is now calling Covid-19 the “Chinese virus.” Of course he is: Racism and blaming other people for his own failures are the defining features of his presidency. But if we’re going to give it a nickname, much better to refer to it as the “Trump pandemic.” True, the virus didn’t originate here. But the U.S. response to the threat has been catastrophically slow and inadequate, and the buck stops with Trump, who minimized the threat and discouraged action until just a few days ago. (Krugman, 3/19)

Donald Trump and the Republican Party are trying to distract you from their catastrophic failure. Two months ago, as the world knows, Trump was praising China’s government for its handling of the coronavirus outbreak, while downplaying the severity of the threat to the United States. “We have it totally under control,” he said in an interview to CNBC on Jan. 22. “It’s one person coming in from China and we have it under control. It’s going to be just fine.” (Bouie, 3/20)

To fight the coronavirus, President Donald Trump is adopting the audacity of false hope. For the past two days, Trump has said he is dispensing "game changer" breakthroughs on treatments and a wartime-style effort to mass produce medical supplies that appear as rays of light amid America's darkening battle against the coronavirus pandemic. His eagerness for remedies no doubt reflects a sincere desire to deliver Americans from the nightmare of lockdowns, fear for loved ones and atmosphere of national trauma. But it is also becoming clear that the President's rhetoric is part of an emerging political strategy. (Stephen Collinson, 3/20)

In the blink of an eye, the essential nature of the American presidency seems to have changed. Only days ago most Republicans were cheering along to the president’s less than statesmanlike routine and happy to let him act as the chief culture warrior and judicial nominator in chief. But suddenly, the specter of Covid-19 has made owning the libs seem slightly less important and shined a bright light on the centrality of character to presidential leadership. Even such fervid supporters of President Trump as Tucker Carlson have admitted that his management of his administration in this crisis has left something to be desired. (Saldin and Teles, 3/20)

Devin Nunes is at it again. Again. Just a few days removed from suggesting that people should take advantage of the light crowds due to coronavirus and go out to eat and then blaming the media for reporting that he said what he said, the California Republican gave a long interview Wednesday with local conservative radio host Ray Appleton on the topic. And it is something else. (Chris Cillizza, 3/19)

China has seen drops in new Covid-19 infections along with signs that supply chains there are recovering. But we’re likely seeing the calm before a very large storm. In the U.S., a rippling cascade of shocks is oncoming, with severe impacts expected in April and May. The American Hospital Association is bracing for infection rates of 30 percent to 40 percent, and 500,000 potential deaths. (Sandor Boyson, 3/18)

The World Health Organization, for weeks now, has been making an emphatic plea to countries around the world: Social distancing is crucial to stopping the spread of coronavirus, but it is only half of the equation. To suppress and control a pandemic of this magnitude, countries also must find and isolate every person infected with Covid-19 — including those with mild cases of the disease who don’t turn up in doctor’s offices or hospitals. (3/19)

What part of “There’s a deadly scourge blazing its way around the globe; entire countries are on lockdown; American mayors are demanding that we ‘shelter in place;’ more than 100 people have died across the nation; and we may never see another sheet of toilet paper in the stores until Christmas” don’t the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice understand? As detailed by Herald reporter Monique O. Madan, on Tuesday, the Executive Office for Immigration Review — in a midnight tweet — postponed hearings in immigration courts across the country except, bafflngly, Miami. (3/19)